Alborada well foal study 2 commences with the aim to better understand the origins of early life horse gut microbiome
After the success of the Alborada Well Foal study and the exciting findings arising from the project a follow-on study has recently begun within the Horse Microbiome Research group at the University of Surrey.
Alborada Well Foal Study II led by Professor Chris Proudman and Professor Roberto La Ragione commenced in November last year Chloe Tait starting as the research assistant on the project. Dr Joy Leng joined the project at the beginning of 2025 as a post-doctoral researcher.
This project will build on the findings from our earlier study by looking at the origins of the foal gut microbiome in early life. As well as collecting faecal samples from young foals until two months of age, samples from their mothers will also be collected before and after giving birth. Samples gathered from the mother will include faeces, saliva, milk and skin (from the udder), and investigated as source of the bacteria that colonise the foal gut in early life.
The second branch to this study will be using the in-lab gut model of the horse that was previously developed and published by the team. This model will be used to simulate the gut microbiome of foals using faeces as a starter for the bacterial populations. Our previous studies have found that antibiotic-induced disruption to the microbiome of one month old foals has potential implications for later-life health and racing performance. Antibiotics will be added to the model to simulate these changes, along with pre-, pro- and post-biotics supplements to assess their potential to reduce the effect of antibiotics on bacterial communities.
